Can You Make a Living Playing Online Poker? How?

There are a surprisingly large number of people across nations that earn their daily bread by playing online poker. Is that a job that would appeal to you? If it is and you're planning on checking it out, then there are some important facets that you need to take a close look at before plunging in. First and foremost, it's a game that requires skill and experience. There are no short cut methods to gain these vital ingredients either. Practice is the only key.

To the amateur player who has to find the time play, it might sound really appealing to play poker all day long and make money off it. However, the reality is slightly different. To make the same amount of money that another person would, a poker player has to spend long hours glued to his desktop, hanging on to his patience. He has to be equally prepared to win large sums and lose considerable amounts as well.

You definitely require expertise to become a professional at this game. But, that's not the only quality you'll need. Knowing when to quit is the key to protecting your bankroll and being a successful poker player. All pokers players regardless of their experience fall by the way side when they fail to manage their bankroll intelligently and step back when they're out of luck.

It's also commonly considered that pro poker players must play for high stakes. This, however, needn't be the case. As a pro, your attention should be focused on making enough money and that can be easily achieved by playing at $1 or $2 tables. Keep in mind that while playing high stakes games do give you considerable winnings they can result in you losing large chunks of your bankroll as well.

The most fool-proof method to decide whether or not you're suited to this profession is to make use of any stats you might have accumulated by playing over the years. Analyze these numbers to see if you were a player that made adequate profits. If the results reveal that you weren't successful in doing so while playing poker at the amateur level then there's a good chance you won't be able to be a successful poker online professional.

From Lush Casinos to Online Environments - Learning How to Play Video Poker

When you first walk into a plush casino, one of the things that will instantly draw your attention is the slot machine. These traditional gambling machines make up about 70% of a casino's income. When you combine the appeal of the traditional slot machine with the modernity of computerized games, video poker is what you will get.

Based from the casino game five-card draw poker, the game is played on a console similar to a slot machine - only it is computerized. From the 1980s onwards, it has grown in popularity and has now even extended in scope as an online game.

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Video Poker: The Basics of the Game

To have more of an idea about what it is all about, let us learn about the gaming basics. Unlike with slot machines where you simply need to wait for a row of identical icons to show up, this poker game requires you to use your card playing skills in a slot-machine-like environment.

Before delving deeper into the details of how to play it, what exactly are the benefits of playing the game? Aside from allowing you to practice your skills in poker, your chances of winning are also increased because the edge of the house is much lower as compared to slots. Also, there are no other players who can intimidate, dictate or influence the way that you are playing the game. It's just you and your poker game skills.

Now, there are a few variations of video poker that you can play. Take your pick from playing the game using the standard 52-card deck; or a 52-card deck with additional wild cards. Since all the variations of video poker are based on the traditional poker hand ranking principles, it is a good idea to sharpen your skills at this card game first.

Video Poker Rules & Tips

When playing video poker, start by choosing the coin value and decide on the number of coins that you would like to place as bet. Click on 'Deal' and five cards will appear on your screen. At this point, you have the option to discard some of the cards or all of the cards and replace them with new ones.

Whether you lose or win will be determined by the outcome of the second draw. The video poker machine will display its payout table and the minimum hand qualified for a payout depends on the individual gambling machine.

So what are some of the tips that you need to keep in mind when playing video poker? If it is your first time to try the game out, make sure that you have a basic knowledge of poker as a game. Choose the machine which offers the highest return; hold on to a pair instead of keeping a high card; and you can even practice the play money mode before betting real money.

How to Make a Living Playing Online Poker

Becoming a full-time poker player isn't always as good as most people will make it sound so you will want to make sure that you're considering the facts before you make the move to doing this full-time. You will typically need to play long hours of patient poker every single day in order to make the money that you normally would at a real job. Some days you'll get lucky and win a lot of money quickly, but then other days you might lose a lot of money quickly.

One of the biggest skills you need to learn apart from playing poker is how to manage your bankroll. If you don't have a good day you need to cut your losses before you lose too much of your bankroll. If you can't control your bankroll then you're never going to make it as an online poker player. One other myth that a lot of people think about becoming a pro is that they need to play the higher stakes available too them. This is completely wrong and you need to ensure that you don't play on limits you're not comfortable with.

Believe it or not, but there are thousands of people around the world who play online poker for a living and they don't need to work a normal job. If this sounds like something that you might want to do then you will need to consider some factors as to how you'll make a living playing online poker. There is nothing that you can do in order to become a professional online poker player other than make sure you practice a lot.

You can easily make enough money on a $1/$2 table so you really don't need to play high stakes in order to make a living as a poker player. When you play higher limit games you will be able to make more money, but you'll also need to risk more money at the same time and this sometimes will hurt your poker game.

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The Ups And Downs Of Playing Online Poker Versus Casino Poker

Playing poker online can be a very rewarding as well as fun experience. However playing poker in a casino poker room can also be a lot of fun. Either situation has its advantages. Online you have the benefit of no lines or waiting for a game to form plus most online poker room sites offer free games for you to practice playing. Online you can usually find a variety of poker online games as well as micro limits. Some sites start the micro limit poker tables at 5c and 10c no limit on up to higher stakes. Also the limit poker starts at 25c and 50c and up. This allows neophyte poker players to come online and play poker for very little money. Online poker room sites also offer the convenience factor. If you do not live in an area where you have access to a casino and you have to drive several hours or even fly to get to a poker room then going online and playing is definitely the better alternative. You can sit in the comfort of you own home and play your favorite game of poker and safe yourself the trip.

If you do live close to a casino then visiting a live game is a viable option. However the downside is that you will not always be able to find a game going or if the tables are full now you are stuck sitting at the casino and waiting for a spot. Their is nothing more tedious then having to sit for 30 minutes or an hour just to get in on a game. Online you will never have to wait that long for a game plus their is usually one going at your buy in level. Also in online casino's you will have a larger variety of games offered. Things like 10 man Sit and Go tournaments as well as satellite tournament that feed in to big events like the WSOP. You can generally find a game online 24 hours a day seven days a week, where in a local card room are you going to get that. Of course if you are unlucky enough to be in the U.S. with the Port Authority Act the right to play poker has been taken from you by the government. However organizations like the PPA and others are stepping in to get our rights to play poker online back. Most of your bigger poker rooms these days have pulled out of the market. Currently one of the few that still allows money play is Full Tilt Poker.

Now that we have discussed all the benefits to online poker room sites lets talk about the benefits of playing casino poker. Casino poker rooms are a great place to play when you have access to a card room in your area I would highly recommend you spend some play at live games. Playing in a live game is quite different then playing internet poker. In internet poker you never have to be face to face with your opponent where in live games you can see your opponent therefore you have the opportunity to see any tells that they may exhibit. This can be a vital skill in improving your poker game. Most poker pros will agree that the psychology of poker is a very important part of what they do well. This skill leads to profits. What this means is reading your opponent. Imagine if you didn't have a hand that could win but you knew that your opponent didn't either and that if you bet they would fold their likely better hand to your trash hand. How much money would that be worth? Now you are getting in to the aspects of poker that deal with playing the other players and not just the cards you are dealt. This skill is not really attainable in online poker room play, you have to be sitting across the table from your opponents to attain this skill. Therefore it is important to balance your online play with real live games to work on your skills. Look for a good home game or find a local card room if possible and go play once or twice a month if you can. Play online poker to see more hands and take advantage of the convenience of an online poker room when you cannot get out of the house or just have a little time to play.

Poker Strategy With Ed Miller: Playing With More Rule Changes

In my last article I talked about how some players have misconceptions about whether and why poker is beatable for some players. The essence of a poker game’s beatability (by strong players) boils down to whether the relatively static per hand rake can be overcome with enough meaningful decisions per hand.

A decision is just a choice in the game. A meaningful decision is one where two reasonable players could make different choices. Choices that are too obvious don’t make the game beatable because nearly every player will make these choices the same way. It’s almost as if there were no choice at all.

If you want to be a long-term winner in a poker game, prefer games that have more meaningful decisions per hand. No-limit hold’em has lots of meaningful decisions per hand, and so it’s certainly beatable for sufficiently skilled players.

Shorthanded Games

Many players try to avoid shorthanded games. If you’ve played poker online in a cardroom, you’ve seen games break once they get down to five- or six-handed. Say the game starts nine-handed. Then someone goes to dinner. Then someone goes to smoke. Then someone else goes walking. And now one or two of the players are uneasy with the six-handed game and start complaining. When the game isn’t restored to full quickly, they get up. Now the game is four-handed, and a couple more players begin to complain about the situation. The game breaks.

First, let’s consider a game with a time charge rather than a per-hand rake. Say it’s $10 per half hour. Consider a ten-handed game. Most of the time you will be dealt a hand too weak to play preflop. You will have to fold. Often this won’t be a meaningful decision — it doesn’t take a genius to fold 10-4 from under the gun.

You may easily have less than one meaningful decision on average per hand dealt.

Now consider a three-handed game. Now most of the time you will be dealt a playable hand. Almost every hand will involve a meaningful decision, and many hands will give you two, three, five, or even more meaningful decisions. Your average meaningful decisions per hand will be much more than one.

Meanwhile, you are actually paying considerably less “rake” per hand, as you pay a fixed time fee but get more hands per hour in the shorthanded game.

This is why shorthanded games are much more beatable by skilled players than full games are. The players who shy away from shorthanded games may be right to do so—because they don’t win or barely win in the full game, and when the number of players drops and the number of meaningful decisions shoots up, their skill deficit costs them more and more.

When the game is raked per pot, the calculation is more complicated because now you have to pay more rake. But even so, in most cases, the increase in meaningful decisions per hand more than makes up for any extra rake.

In general, short-handed games are more beatable than full-ring games.

Lowball Games

Games like draw lowball and razz are games that are played using a different hand ranking than traditional poker games. In these games, the lowest hand wins the entire pot.

In general, with all else equal, the traditional hand ranking offers more meaningful decisions than the lowball hand ranking. The traditional ranking allows for flexible drawing hands like one pair hands that also have the ability to make much stronger hands like straights or flushes.

This flexibility creates situations where it might be right to bluff, it might be right to just draw, or it might be right to fold, depending on the situation. These situations make for meaningful decisions.

In the lowball games, however, everyone is always drawing to the same type of hand. If your opponent is ahead, no miracle flush draw on the river can save you. If your opponent is too far ahead, you can easily be drawing dead.

In general, in lowball only games, there are more rote decisions that every reasonable player will approach the same way. Fewer meaningful decisions make these games less beatable.

This problem was addressed when single draw lowball draw games were displaced in favor of triple draw games. This change exploded the number of meaningful decisions per hand, because now instead of two betting rounds and one draw, there are four betting rounds and three draws.

Another change that introduced meaningful decisions to the lowball games is when traditional single draw limit draw lowball is played as a no-limit game. Because bet-sizing is key part of any no-limit game’s strategy, they will always have more meaningful decisions per hand and therefore offer more ability for skilled players to gain an edge.

Finally, the mixed game players invented split pot versions of the lowball games like badacey and baducey. These are games where the pot is split between the best five-card lowball hand (badacey played ace-to-five and baducey played deuce-to-seven) and the best four-card badugi hand. These rule variations add yet more meaningful decisions on top of traditional deuce-to-seven triple draw, because now the drawing decisions are more complex, as are the decisions about whether to stay in to play for half the pot.

A game like baducey is filled with meaningful decisions per hand, and therefore are strongly beatable by skilled players.

A Balance

The key to designing a good poker game is to make the game beatable, but not too beatable. You want skilled players to be able to win over time. This is the carrot that gets everyone playing the game in the first place. Not many players would stick with a game that is too simple and transparent and offers too few meaningful decisions.

But if you jam your game with too many meaningful decisions—imagine shorthanded no-limit baducey—the skill difference between the better and worse players will translate into enormous edges. The good players will win quickly and the worse players will get crushed.

No one likes getting crushed. If your game has too many meaningful decisions per hand, most players eventually figure out that they’re outclassed and simply don’t want to play.

If you are playing a popular game like no-limit hold’em, it pays to think in terms of meaningful decisions per hand. If you want to get better, you need to identify the most meaningful decisions that come up regularly and study them. Make sure you are making the best choices in these situations.

Furthermore, when players want to make changes to the game like vary or cap stack depth, add or remove players, add straddles, make some betting rounds limit or pot-limit, and so forth, you can think in terms of meaningful decisions per hand to decide how the rule changes will affect the “skill versus luck” balance.

If you are playing an unfamiliar game in a mix, or if you are coming up with your own variations in home games, thinking in terms of meaningful decisions per hand is powerful. This simple heuristic will point you in the right direction in unfamiliar territory. ♠